What happens when you put together a biologist, a theoretical physicist, a philosopher of science and a computer scientist?
With the added help of digital organisms from a computer, the answer is a new way of dealing with Darwin's theory of evolution.
"You can think of (digital organisms) as being like computer viruses, but ones that can mutate and evolve on their own," said Robert Pennock, associate professor of philosophy for Lyman Briggs School.
Pennock, along with Richard Lenski, Charles Ofria, a professor of computer science, and Christoph Adami formed the team which created a type of artificial life minus the "missing links" to better understand how complex organisms evolve. All of the researchers are from MSU except Adami, who is from the California Institute of Technology.
But Lenski, a Hannah distinguished professor of crop and soil sciences, microbiology, molecular genetics and zoology said the team encountered a "twist" in their three-year experiment. The team discovered some mutations in the digital organisms turned out to be an advantage in the long-run.
"Biologists usually assume that the evolution of new adaptations is an uphill climb, where the eventual winners are the descendants of the most fit organisms," he said.
The impact of their research can be seen as part of the "two-way" street between concepts of biology and computer science, where they are using "processes based on principles of genetics and evolution to solve complex problems, design working robots and more," Lenski said.
Pennock said the research also is important to anyone who doubts the concept of evolution.
"Creationists say it isn't possible for evolution to design new complex features," he said. "But the experiment let us observe directly as random mutations and natural selection did just that.
"Claims that evolution is impossible doesn't mean much when one can watch it happen."
The team's experiment and findings were featured in the international science journal Nature on May 8. The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the MSU Foundation.
Lenski said the group is now working on how to accelerate or decelerate the evolution process.
The work could spawn the creation of a research center which would focus on continuing the combination between biology and computer science, Lenski said.
